John Terry looks certain to lead Chelsea against Arsenal on Saturday after André Villas-Boas said he had no concerns about his captain's state of mind.

The Chelsea manager reiterated his backing for Terry. The Football Association and the police are investigating whether the England captain racially abused the QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during last Sunday's Premier League game at Loftus Road. Terry, who has categorically denied the allegations, will make his first public appearance tomorrow since the race row erupted.

"I see no reason why not," Villas-Boas said, adding that he had no fears about Terry playing. "Not in the sense of his state of mind; never."

Villas-Boas also denied the saga had been a distraction for his team as they look to close the six-point gap to Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. "I don't think, for us, it's been a distraction. We haven't lost too much focus on the situation because there is nothing to lose focus on."

Villas-Boas reiterated that the race row had all been "a big misunderstanding". Asked if it had become a wider issue than Terry's word against Ferdinand's, he said: "I don't know what it's become. For me, it's the end of the matter and it's under FA investigation and hopefully we can put an end to it."

The Terry-Ferdinand controversy came eight days after the Manchester United defender Patrice Evra accused Liverpool's Luis Suárez of racially abusing him during a match. Suárez denies the accusation.

While maintaining Terry's innocence, Villas-Boas said more needed to be done to tackle racism in English football.

"We have done throughout the years the correct measures to try to ban it," he said. "The governing bodies should continue to be aggressive in banning it. The correct progress has still to be made in some aspects and we hope we can evolve from that."